Prosecutors rested after four days of testimony in the federal trial of former New Orleans homicide detective Gerard Dugue, a longtime sergeant accused of participating in a conspiracy to justify the police shootings of six civilians on the Danziger Bridge a week after Hurricane Katrina. Jurors will be back in court Friday to hear more testimony, but the case could wrap up by early next week, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt said.

View full sizeMichael DeMocker, The Times-Picayune archiveFormer New Orleans homicide detective Gerard Dugue is accused of participating in a conspiracy to justify the police shootings of six civilians on the Danziger Bridge a week after Hurricane Katrina.

After jurors filed out of the courtroom, defense attorney Claude Kelly asked the judge to dismiss all of the charges, saying prosecutors had failed to prove their case. Kelly said there is no direct evidence that Dugue participated in a cover-up, adding that one of prosecutors' key witnesses -- former NOPD detective Jeffrey Lehrmann -- was "quacky."

Lead prosecutor Barbara "Bobbi" Bernstein countered that the main evidence Engelhardt needs to consider against Dugue is the 54-page report that the detective drafted in the spring of 2006, which reflected a conspiracy begun by other officers as soon as the shooting stopped.

Bernstein argued that, in his report, Dugue concluded the shooting of the civilians was justified based on accounts he should have known were false.

Engelhardt deferred his decision, saying he will give the case to jurors and later decide whether any convictions should be overturned. Following the trial last summer of five other officers accused in the bridge case, Engelhardt dismissed some counts a couple months after the jury returned guilty verdicts.

"I do have some concerns about some counts in this case," Engelhardt told the lawyers, although he noted that his concern didn't extend to all six counts against Dugue. The former detective faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and make false statements, falsification of records and conspiring to falsely prosecute two men for shooting at police.

Engelhardt also expressed pointed concerns about Lehrmann, one of the prosecutors' last witnesses.

Lehrmann, who became a federal immigration agent after Katrina and moved to Arizona, was the first person involved in the conspiracy to begin cooperating with federal prosecutors. Eventually, a total of five New Orleans police officers signed plea deals, providing valuable testimony in the last summer's trial.

Lehrmann's testimony in both trials was at times contradictory and muddled.

"I have to tell you, I have some real concerns about Mr. Lehrmann's testimony, as I did last summer. He has gotten no better at giving questionable testimony in a federal case," Engelhardt said. The judge advised prosecutors not to rely too heavily on Lehrmann's testimony during closing arguments.

On Thursday, Lehrmann appeared in a red jail jumpsuit, the third former officer turned cooperating witness to testify in shackles and handcuffs. Lehrmann testified that he was brought into the conspiracy by his friend and supervisor, former Sgt. Arthur "Archie" Kaufman, who was convicted last summer.

Kaufman was convicted of helping lead a phony investigation into the shooting, in part by fabricating witnesses and introducing a planted gun into evidence and claiming it belonged to a civilian.

Dugue didn't get involved in the investigation until six weeks after the storm. His attorney has sought to portray him as an honest investigator who was unaware of the nefarious activities of other officers, particularly Kaufman.

Lehrmann testified he was confident that Dugue was in on the fix because of his presence at a January 2006 meeting that was held to allow officers to get "their stories straight."

"I had no doubt in my mind he was part of the cover-up," Lehrmann said.

Kelly pressed Lehrmann on one key part of his testimony: That Dugue or another cop who was part of what prosecutors termed the "secret meeting" said "this never happened" when the gathering concluded.

Kelly noted that in 2009 Lehrmann wasn't sure who made that comment. But on the stand, Lehrmann was fairly confident it was Dugue.

"I've just thought about it more," Lehrmann replied.

Not long after Lehrmann's testimony, prosecutors rested their case. As the first defense witness, Kelly called Lance Madison, whose brother, Ronald Madison, was killed on the bridge. Lance Madison was also arrested that day, booked on bogus charges that he shot at police officers.

Kelly asked Madison about state court testimony he gave not long after the shooting, when he said he believed that civilians had fired at him and his brother before the police arrived. Madison told a state court judge that "teenagers" shot at him.

When questioned by Bernstein, Madison explained further that when shots were being fired by police he looked back and saw a group of civilians behind him. He incorrectly inferred they were firing weapons. Additionally, he didn't realize who the police were at first because they arrived in a Budget rental truck dressed in dark clothes.

"I thought it was a gang," Madison said. "It sounded like a war was going on."